First Lady "Fires Up" A-list Crowd at NYC Fundraiser

First Lady Michelle Obama hit the campaign trail in support of her husband this week in NYC appearing first at a taping for the David Letterman Show and, later, at a private fundraiser hosted by actor Robert DeNiro and his wife Grace Hightower DeNiro.
The star-studded event was attended by Grammy award-winning singer Beyonce and her mother Tina Knowles, TV-personality Star Jones, and actresses Angela Bassett, Ben Stiller, and Alfre Woodard, among others.

Held at Locanda Verde restaurant at the Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, the affair is counted as one of many that the first lady has been attending on behalf of President Obama's re-election strategy. Last month, she spoke at a midday event in Ohio attended by 300 supporters. The tickets went for $10,000 each. Later the same day, she spoke at a Kentucky fundraiser, referencing the Affordable Care Act and other steps the Obama administration has taken towards economic recovery.

According to several reports, tickets to the DeNiros' event sold for $5,000 each, adding to the substantial amounts of donations that have been pouring into both the Obama re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee since the start of 2012. In January alone, $29 million was raised, topped by $45 million in February.